How to Clean Your French Press Fast

Cleaning the French Press can be a pain in the ass. The main problem lies with the disposal of the coffee grounds, which cannot be clean in a single step. With a drip coffee machine or most other methods, you can simply dispose your coffee inside along with the filter.

Dumping the grounds into the sink, as you wash it, is not a viable option. The pipes may get clogged up after a while. I started off cleaning the grounds by scooping it out bit by bit, and threw it to the bin.

This is taking too much time.

Fastest way to clean your French Press

1. Dispose the coffee grounds

Probably the most annoying part of cleaning the French press. Until, you watch this YouTube video.

Grab a sieve

Fill your cafetière with water

Empty it by pouring water through the sieve, quickly

Coffee grounds are now on the sieve, dump the grounds into the bin

Voila!

I couldn’t empty all the grounds in one swoop. You may have to do repeat it twice before your coffee plunger is thoroughly cleaned.

Eventually, I swapped the sieve and found a better tool – it’s a sink mesh filter.1 Obviously, if your mesh is too coarse, this isn’t going to work.

2. Scrub and wash

Unscrew the rod and disassemble plunger, mesh filter and the other components. Rinse them with water and use the soft side of a sponge to remove any remaining coffee. Press the sponge against the filters to remove any oils from coffee.

Likewise, use the soft side of the sponge to scrub out any remaining coffee in the glass beaker.

3. Dry your French press

Use a cloth to wipe your glass beaker. I usually let the other parts dry naturally.

I like the mesh filter better, because I’d have one less thing to wash. Plus, I don’t feel guilty if it isn’t cleaned up thoroughly and still has some coffee grounds on it. I’m lazy. ↩